Google Search Appliance Protocol Reference - Manual (Page 106)

Google Search Appliance: Search Protocol Reference Appendices 106
How the Google Search Appliance Determines the
Number of Results to Return
When search results are returned, the number of results is determined by one of the following
conditions:
• If the Google Search Appliance has results to satisfy the search request, then the requested number
of results are returned.
• If the Google Search Appliance has fewer results than the number requested in the search request,
the last page of results is returned. The last page is determined by dividing the total number of
results into pages based on the number of results requested.
• If no results are found, then an empty result set is returned.
To determine if a results page is the last page of available results, check for any of the following
conditions:
• The first result number returned does not match the first result number requested.
• The number of results returned is less than the number of results requested.
• The results returned do not contain a link to the next result set.
Navigation
When the total number of results returned is an estimate, the navigation structure for search results is
based on this estimate. Google recommends two approaches for generating a navigation scheme for
your search results:
1. Only provide the search user with the ability to navigate to the previous results page and the next
results page. The output format can be configured to provide links to the previous and next result
set when appropriate.
2. Provide the search user with the ability to jump to any search page within the estimated number of
results. If the user requests a results page beyond which results are actually available, the last
results page is returned. The navigation structure is updated when the last page is displayed. This is
the behavior you see in the default output of the Google Search Appliance.
Automatic Filtering
When the automatic filtering feature is active, the number of results returned is significantly reduced.
Automatic filtering reduces undesirable results such as duplicate entries. You can disable this feature
using the instructions in “Automatic Filtering” on page 31.
Filtered search results are identified in the returned results. For example, the XML tag is present
in XML search results where automatic document filtering occurs.
Google recommends that the search results page displays a message on the last page similar to the
following, when automatic filtering occurs:
In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the search
results already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.
This is the behavior you see in the default output format of the Google Search Appliance.